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4°, mid-twentieth-century half mottled sheep over marbled boards (slight binding wear), gilt spine with raised bands in 5 compartments, crimson leather lettering pieces in second and fourth compartments from top, gilt letter, decorated endleaves. Woodcut vignette of guitar on title-page, woodcut musical annotations in text; 8 fine double-page copper engraved folding plates. Small repair (1 x 1.4 cm.) to one leaf at upper outer margin. Minor soiling in a few margins. Overall clean and crisp, in very good condition. (1 leaf), v, 51 pp., 8 folding plates. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of a rare book on the Portuguese baroque guitar (a twelve-string guitar run in 5 courses), important as a text for the Portuguese guitar and for including an early example of the music and text for a modinha duet.The earliest modinhas (a type of light, sentimental song influenced by Afro-Brazilian music) date to the mid-eighteenth century. During the 1770s and 1780s they became popular in the Lisbon salons, where it was @de rigueur to have Domingos Caldas Barbosa (a Brazilian of mixed Portuguese and African descent) sing them with his guitar. The @Nova arte was clearly aimed at the same audience, since its title page promises that it will be "util a toda qualidade de pessoas; e muito principalmente ás que seguem a vida litteraria, e ainda ás Senhoras." Caldas Barbosa's @Viola de Lereno, pulished in 1798, made his modinhas widely known, but included only the poems, not the music.Ribeiro attributes this duet to his teacher José Mauricio. The text begins "Marilia bella vou retratarte. " Marilia is, of course, famous as the beloved of Tomás Antonio Gonzaga, whose @Marilia de Dirceu appeared in 1792-1799. The @Nova arte is divided into a theoretical section and a practical section that explains and illustrates tuning, fingering, notational signs and exercises. Aside from the modinha, the fine engraved plates illustrate 28 positions of the hand on the guitar and several short musical exercises, including a minuet as well as the modinha.The @Nova arte is one of the last works to use the old cipher system (or "number system"), although it also uses letter notation, as oppose to the fixed-Do solfege most common in Europe. It also mentions the C clef, now almost obsolete, alongside the more durable F and G clefs, with contemporary variations including the soprano clef, baritone clef, and French viola clef. Also included are various unique notational symbols with their explanations, including markings for notes, repeats, rests, and ornamentations such as appoggiaturas, mordents and trills.Ribeiro explains in the prologue that he wrote this instruction manual after he accompanied some singers of modinhas and was constantly importuned for lessons by friends and ladies. This appears to be the only published work of this largely self-taught author. (He does acknowledge consulting works by Rousseau and Rameau.) Ribeiro is identified on the title-page as a professor of Latin grammar who was licensed to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic in Coimbra. According to Innocêncio, his teacher José Mauricio (1752-1815) is not to be confused with the famous Brazilian musician José Mauricio Nunes Garcia. He was, rather, @mestre de capella and professor of music at the University of Coimbra. (Innocêncio V, 67-68).*** Innocencio VI, 76. Albuquerque, @A edição musical em Portugal (1750-1834) 338. Daciano, @Primeiro esboço duma bibliografia musical portuguesa, p. 113. Lambertini @Bibliophilie musicale 1429. Vasconcellos @Catalogue des livres rares composant la bibliothèque musicale d'un amateur 107. Vasconcellos @Os músicos portugueses, II, 148-9. Vieira II, 259-60. Wolffheim I, 89. Eitner VII, 293. BUC II, 758. Selch, @The Legacy of Sebastian Virdung 58. Eitner VII, 293; Wolfheim I, 897. Porbase locates 5 copies at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and 1 at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. NUC: DLC, CtY, CU (microfilm?). N° de ref. de la librería